Faculty Senate President David Weissenburger called the meeting to order at 3:30 P.M.
Seventeen senators were in attendance.

I. Minutes of the February 11, 2003, meeting were approved.

II. Secretary-Treasurer Malcolm L. Cross reported a balance of $1427.33 in the Faculty Senate account

III . Announcements.
A. Senate Elections: David Weissenburger announced that the Library and the Departments of Agribusiness, Agronomy, Horticulture, and Range Management; Biological Sciences; Fine Arts and Communications; and Health and Physical Education must conduct elections to select new faculty senators to replace incumbents whose terms will expire in May.
B. Regents Professor: David Weissenburger announced that the issue is still under discussion with Tarleton’s Provost and President.
C. Other: David Weissenburger announced that we had been thanked for our financial support for the Noon Aerobics Class.

IV. Motions to Approve: None.

V. University Committees.
A. Reports.
1. Academic Council: David Weissenburger announced that the Academic Council met 2/18 to hear Randall Popken and Sandra Beaty of the English Department present a preliminary report from the Writing Proficiency Task Force about the Writing Proficiency Examination. The report discussed the examination’s history, costs ($11,105), goals, administration, assessment methods, and alternatives, including possible intensive writing programs, and departmental folio programs. The Task Force is continuing to meet and by the end of spring will present a report on the feasibility of either retaining the Writing Proficiency Examination or replacing it with an alternative program.
David Weissenburger also reported that the Academic Council had set the following dates for student orientation: 6/25-6/27, 7/23-7/25, and 7/30-8/1.

2. Curriculum Committee: The Curriculum Committee met 2/14 to discuss 8-10 items. Most were approved, although a few items were tabled because they had not been sufficiently developed. The meeting was the last for its outgoing Chair, Mary Ann Block.
3. Employee Benefits Committee: No report.
4. Distance and Distributed Education Committee and TLTR: Bill Bane reported that the Distance and Distributed Education Committee was scheduled to meet on 3/26. George Mollick reported that the TLTR had cancelled its last meeting, and that it will meet to compare the relative merits of hybrid classes with regular on-line classes. The former, which stress web work and have fewer meetings, may prove to be more desirable because of their potentially lower costs.
5. Calendar Committee: No report. Future meetings have not yet been scheduled.
6. EEO/AA: David Weissenburger announced that the EEO/AA Committee met to review the university’s Affirmative Action Plan. Problems in meeting the plan’s goals may, in part, be an artifact of the current reporting period that runs from 9/1 to 12/31 and relies on summer data, which is not representative of employment in the fall and spring. The reporting period will be changed to correspond with the calendar year so that fall data will be used instead to represent typical employment at the university. David Weissenburger also announced that the Committee would meet on 4/8 to continue updating its Affirmative Action Plan.
7. Planning Council: No report.
8. Other Committee Reports: David Weissenburger announced that the Faculty Development Leave Committee met to rank order four faculty developmental leave applications and then forwarded their recommendations to the Provost. He further announced that the Faculty Senate must hold elections in the College of Liberal and Fine Arts to appoint a new committee member due to the expiration of Mallory Young’s term.

VI. Jack and Louise Arthur Award: The Faculty Senate nominated Mark Holtorf, Joe Priest, and Elizabeth Riggs for the Jack and Louise Arthur Award.

VII. Spring Luncheon: Teresa Davidian reminded the Faculty Senate that this year’s Spring Luncheon will be on 4/1 in the Travis Room, and that the guest speaker will be Dr. T. Lindsay Baker, Associate Professor of History and Director of the W. K. Gordon Center, whose speech is entitled “Texas History Behind Every Mesquite Stump.”
David Weissenburger announced that budget cuts will prevent a spring luncheon on the Killeen Campus, but that there are tentative plans, not yet finalized, for a reception for the Killeen faculty when they come here in August for the all-University meeting at the beginning of the next academic year.

VIII Online Committee Request Form: Teresa Davidian reported that preliminary tests with the online committee request form indicate the process is working well; that the form will be date-stamped with the last request submitted by a faculty member being the one considered by the Senate Executive Committee in recommending committee assignments; that Leah Schultz has developed an easy-to-use spreadsheet for recording and manipulating data; and that the forms will be sent out to faculty on 3/12, to be due no later than 4/1.

IX. Faculty Workload Policy: David Weissenburger presented a draft of the Faculty Workload Policy proposal, which he is developing with Gary Peer, who had characterized the approach reflected in the proposal as unconventional, yet rational. David Weissenburger said that the proposal is based on the assumption that one can quantify research and scholarly activities, as well as service activities, and that a normal faculty workload would include 12 workload credits for teaching, 3 for research, and 3 for service. The proposal further reflects the belief that credit and recognition should be accorded those faculty who do more than the normal workload; that a faculty member, even if teaching 4 courses, could be assumed to be bearing an overload, depending on his other duties; that it must be recognized that faculty do more than teaching; and that other activities aside from teaching are relevant to Tarleton’s mission. He cited advising as an example: One who has an abnormally heavy advising schedule might be entitled to a reduction in other duties and expectations.
In the ensuing discussion, several senators asked how, given the diversity of courses, research methodologies, and opportunities for community service, one could develop university wide standards on which to base workload assessments. Particular issues raised in the discussion included concerns that:
· Workload assignments and assessments might reflect ingrained intra-departmental inequities and preferential treatment;
· The process by which workload assessments could be appealed might damage collegiality;
· A faculty member relieved from scholarly activity because of additional work in other areas might nonetheless find his chances for tenure and/or promotion in jeopardy for lack of scholarly activity;
· The development of a university-wide standard for determining a normal advising load might be difficult, given that what constitutes a normal advising load now varies greatly from department to department;
· The accurate assessment of community service might be difficult, given that one faculty member’s community service could be considered part of his workload if it was relevant to his teaching duties, while another faculty member’s community service might not be so considered if it was not considered so relevant;
· The evaluation of labs might be difficult, given the many different types of labs for various courses.
Comments supporting the policy proposal included expressions of belief and hope that its implementation will:
· Highlight the contributions of good faculty;
· Raise the workloads of under performing faculty;
· Identity which faculty are overworked; and
· Help in the evaluation of faculty for merit pay.
David Weissenburger said the proposal includes provisions for appeals yet needs additional development to address other issues before it is complete and ready to be submitted for approval. He wanted more feedback and requested that Faculty Senators to share the proposal with their colleagues, with the understanding that negative feedback would require it to be revised before any action is taken by the Senate.

X. Grading Forum: David Weissenburger announced that Craig Clifford plans to go ahead with his planned forum as discussed David Weissenburger’s 2/20 memorandum to the Faculty Senate, and asked for volunteers to assist with the forum.

XI. Texas Council of Faculty Senates Report: David Weissenburger reported that he had attended the meeting of the Texas Council of Faculty Senates on 2/21 and 2/22. He presented, for the Faculty Senate’s endorsement, a resolution passed by the Texas Council of Faculty Senates concerning the role of faculty in the process of determining how to “do more with less“ in response to state demands for cost cutting to balance the budget. The resolution said that the Texas Council of Faculty Senates “supports the efforts of faculty to participate in this process” but “believes that the burden of doing more with less must not be interpreted to mean that faculty should be paid less and/or that the faculty should assume a greater overall workload…Colleges and universities must recognize that teaching load is only a subset of workload. Any adjustment in teaching load therefore must mandate a corresponding adjustment in service, research, and other work activities. Furthermore, in the spirit of shared sacrifices…all Texas college and university administrators [must] shoulder a just portion of this burden by limiting their own increases in compensation packages to a percentage no greater than that received by the faculty at their institutions. To do so otherwise will harm the missions, values, and goals of the state colleges and universities of Texas.” The Faculty Senate endorsed the resolution unanimously.
David Weissenburger also reported that the Texas Council of Faculty Senates wants each faculty senate to appoint for a 3 to 4 year term a representative to the Council who would attend Council meetings and vote when appropriate. The proposal reflects the Council’s concern for the turnover among members and the resulting lack of continuity. Barbara Williams and Janis Petronis recommended that the Faculty Senate’s president-elect, president, and past president be made ex officio representatives to the Council, noting that the president elect would be committed to serving for three years as recommended by the Council. Janet Whitley questioned whether travel constraints would make sending three representatives prohibitively expensive.

XII. Budget Reductions: David Weissenburger reported that Dr. McCabe had written a letter saying he wants the Faculty Senate to be involved with proposing budget cuts, requesting Senators to encourage faculty attendance at forums and submitting ideas over the internet by processes designed to protect faculty anonymity and privacy. Dr. McCabe requested , the Faculty Senate to submit its proposals by 5/1. In the ensuing discussion members of the Faculty Senate:
· Noting the elimination of faculty achievement grants and merit-plus raises, said we must guard the faculty from further reductions;
· Remarked that the Faculty Forum scheduled for the afternoon of 3/14. the last day before Spring Break, could have been held at a more appropriate time.

XIII. New Business.
A. Faculty Listserve proposal: David Weissenburger said that Darla Fent was proposing to set up a Faculty Discussion Listserve for faculty to use when communicating on matters other than the sort of official university business for which the email system is designated. In the ensuing discussion it was noted that if the faculty were automatically subscribed, there would be no change in the quantity or subject matter of emails they received. The Faculty Senate endorsed the proposal to create the new Faculty Listserve, provided that faculty could either choose to subscribe or, if automatically subscribed, could choose to unsubscribe.
B. Other New Business: Russell Higham, chairman of the committee studying the feasibility of the Faculty Excellence in Research Reward, announced he would report on the committee’s work at the April 8 meeting. In the general discussion about new business, questions were also raised concerning:
· Whether incompletes could be assigned for extended periods of time for students called to military service, which elicited the replay that an incomplete could be granted for longer than the next long semester following the semester in which the course was offered if the professor wanting to extend the incomplete sends a memorandum through the department head to the Registrar.
· Whether the issues of summer pay and faculty morale would be discussed at the April 8 meeting, which elicited David Weissenburger’s reply that they would, and his appointment of a committee consisting of Kelli Styron, Janis Petronis, and Teresa Davidian to examine other schools’ policies on faculty compensation for teaching summer courses..

XI. Adjournment.
The Senate adjourned at 5:07 P.M. The next meeting is scheduled for 4/8/03, at 3:30 P.M.
in the Library Multi-Purpose Room